Romania vs Ukraine

Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena forms the backdrop for the opening game of Euro 2024 Group E between Romania and Ukraine.

Romania’s form in warm-up fixtures has been far from inspiring, with back-to-back 0-0 draws against Bulgaria and Liechtenstein extending their winless run to four matches (D3, L1). Perhaps returning to competitive action would be a spark the Tricolours need, having not lost a competitive fixture since a 3-0 defeat to Montenegro in June 2022 (W7, D5). But stretching that run with an eighth victory would require Romania to defy an unwanted piece of history that has seen them fail to win any of their five previous European Championships openers (D3, L2). Manager Edward Ioardanescu can’t draw much confidence from Romania’s recent encounters against Ukraine, with two of their last three ending in defeats in regulation (D1). But as all three matches saw both teams score at least twice, connoisseurs of action-packed football will look forward to this meeting.

On the other hand, Ukraine can give those back home something to cheer for amid a devastating conflict with Russia, as manager Serhiy Rebrov pointed out following a 4-0 demolition of Moldova in their final warm-up contest. The Ukrainians squeezed past Bosnia and Iceland in the March playoffs to secure their fourth consecutive Euros appearance despite conceding the opening goal on both occasions. Ukraine went from strength to strength at Euro 2020, reaching the quarter-finals after suffering group-stage eliminations in their two previous forays into the European Championships. But they’ve blown hot and cold in the build-up to this summer’s tournament (W1, D1, L1), with both matches (won/lost) yielding multiple-goal margins.